Season 8 of Psych is a bit of a hodge-podge, a smorgasbord, bits and pieces that almost seem like left over ideas from previous seasons – though the series ends on an unexpectedly happy note. But the mish-mash of episodes make it difficult to discuss the season as a whole.

The opening episode, only features Gus and Shawn. We see Lassiter briefly, in what seems to be little more than a cameo, on the more expensive trans-Atlantic cell phone call ever. Shawn is invited by Interpol to the UK, because he resembles the getaway driver of a group of thieves. Once there, Shawn and Gus run into Pierre Deveraux (Cary Elwes) who claims to be a deep-cover Interpol agent, not an infamous thief. Pierre Deveraux isn’t even his real name. He asks Shawn to substitute for a getaway driver so Interpol can catch an infamous thief who uses a new crew for every job. It’s basically Psych does Oceans 11, or any other caper film. The episode suffers from not having the regular cast, but Elwes, who has been in several episodes of Psych over the years, is a delight.

The next episode brings the entire cast back, as well as the show’s normal setting of Santa Barbara. With the police station still under the thumb of Interim Chief Trout (Anthony Michael Hall), things are almost on track. Trout is horrible at policing – he’s arrogant, rude, sexist, racist and dumb. Lassiter saves his life when someone takes a shot at him, and Trout’s so arrogant, he blames Lassie for messing up his suit. Shawn and the gang have to solve the case – which expands to three dead guys; the only link being, as Shawn puts it, “someone’s killing a-holes” (including the pot shots at Trout).

The next episode is set in 2006, the first year of the show, and it feels like a script that didn’t make the cut for filming. But because of the setting, Shawn is pining for Juliet who won’t really give him the time of day. It also gives the audience a last chance to see Shawn as his wackiest in terms of the physical comedy that was gradually reduced over the years of how Shawn indicates he’s having a “vision”. The episode involved a woman accused of murder that Shawn and Gus believe is innocent.

In the next episode, an ex-con takes Woody hostage, when the coroner interrupts the ex-criminal as he tries to steal a corpse. As it turns out, the guy claims to be innocent of the murder – but thinks no one will believe him since he’s an ex-con and he had argued with the victim previously. Not only do Shawn and Gus have to solve the murder, and prove the guy innocent, but Lassiter and Juliet have to rescue Woody before Trout puts his “kill everyone including the hostage in a hail of bullets” plan in action. At the end of the episode, Trout fires Juliet and Lassiter – but it’s proved moot as Trout is fired for being an ass.

In the next episode, someone with an eerie resemblance to Gus, with the same type of life, is murdered. This forces Gus to re-think his life, and he quits his job as a pharmaceutical rep.

The next story has Lassiter trying to solve a cold case from 1967, so he will be appointed Chief of Police by the new mayor. The costumes and music are awesome – the plot, well, it’s been done. Karen Vick returns briefly – but only to say that during her 6-month suspension she found a new job, as Chief of Police in San Francisco. At the end of the episode, Lassiter gets the job of Chief. Although he had planned to have Juliet as his Head Detective – the mayor had made it a condition of employment to hire his choice for that position. Juliet accepts Vick’s offer to be her head detective in San Francisco, leaving her relationship with Shawn in limbo. However, they plan to stay in a long-distance relationship.

There’s a couple of filler episodes. In one, Lassiter’s wife, Marlowe, gives birth to their daughter, Lily. And Henry sells his house, Shawn’s childhood home. Then there’s the last of Psych’s annual Halloween episodes, filled with zombies and other horror references, and guest-starring Bruce Campbell as a dream therapist who’s treating Gus. The episode is a series of the horror vignettes (which get weird because they always end-up being Gus’s dreams), with a focus on Gus’s relationship with Shawn, rather than Shawn’s relationship with Gus.

I then watched “Psych: The Musical” which is on the special features section of the third disc. the episode breaks back Ally Sheedy as the Yang killer, but as a consultant. The case focuses on the Ripper Theater murder, which I think was from an earlier season. I enjoyed “Psych: The Musical” a lot. TimOmundson has a wonderful deep bass voice. We know James Roday and Dulé Hill can sing, since they do it all the time. Even Kristen Nelson gets a song. Maggie Lawson tries, and although not the strongest voice – she makes up for it in enthusiasm. Besides, it is extremely fun to watch Omundson, Nelson, and Lawson doing traditional dance steps we’ve seen so many times before — in the business suits those characters wear normally. The story itself actually wasn’t bad (a typical red herring, red herring, red herring, catch the real killer 10 minutes before the end of the story plot) but it’s just put together well with the music and the dancing, and even more theatrical costumes at times since much of the plot involves a re-make of a play at a theatre.

The final episode is called, “The Break Up”, and I was expecting something negative and awful and everyone going their own ways. But it wasn’t – and the start of the story, Shawn calls Juliet and tells her he wants to move up to San Francisco permanently to be with her. The rest of the story, between the typical murder plot that’s common on this show, is Shawn trying to figure out how to tell Gus he’s leaving. In the end, Shawn sends DVDs to all the regulars – telling him both what they have meant to him and his decision. It’s a bit eerie. But the last scene has Shawn showing up in San Francisco to see Jules, we see Karen again in her new role, surprised to see Shawn, Gus comes up to see Shawn and to tell him he quit his new job because it was too much like his old job, and most importantly – Shawn proposes to Jules – who accepts him, though someone comes out of nowhere to steal the engagement ring before he can slip it on Jules’ finger. Shawn and Gus give chase in the most ridiculous car ever.

So the last season does wrap up all the threads from the previous season. We see very little of Chief Vick – the actress was probably unavailable (the series was supposed to wrap with Season 7, but USA’s replacement for it bombed big time, prompting one more season of the established show). Who’s in an episode of the regular cast also goes up and down – we always have Shawn and Gus, but Juliet leaves halfway through. We see little of Henry. Lassie’s there and more competent than ever, and with that – Shawn’s “gifts” have less use to the plots. Shawn and Gus’s friendship is a theme, especially in the horror episode. Yet the series wraps in a satisfactory way – most of our characters are in a new location, but together. Lassiter has the job he’s always wanted and a new head detective who’s just like him in many ways – plus he’s now married, has a daughter, and even bought Henry’s house. Henry, it’s implied, will enjoy his retirement. Shawn and Jules are together. Everything falls into place. And that is a happy conclusion to this happy, fun, and highly 1980s-like series.

There will be a Psych reunion special this year (2017) and that should be enjoyable.